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LEXINGTON, KY. — It’s not often a trainer brings a horse back seven days after a 30-length defeat, but Hall of Famer Bill Mott obviously had a hunch about Emollient.

So perhaps it shouldn’t have been much of a surprise when Emollient — who finished next to last in last week’s Gulfstream Park Oaks — came back Saturday and led from the start in an impressive nine-length romp in the Central Bank Ashland Stakes at Keeneland.

“For Bill to wheel her right back, I knew there was a reason,” winning jockey Mike Smith said. “I guess it showed today.”

A crowd of 32,564 saw Emollient capture the $500,000, Grade I race and likely earn a spot in the Kentucky Oaks on May 3 at Churchill Downs.

“Yeah, how do you not?” said Garrett O’Rourke — manager of Juddmonte Farms’ U.S. operation — when asked if the Oaks would be considered next for the homebred filly. “It’s obviously two quick races in a row, and she has to come out of it. The advantage is that we’ve got enough time to play with between now and the Oaks.”

Emollient, a daughter of Empire Maker out of the Touch Gold mare Soothing Touch, covered the 11/16 miles in 1:43.49 and paid $14.40.

The Graham Motion-trained duo of Tuttipaesi and Kitten’s Point finished second and third. Motion had said Friday that neither was likely to run in the Oaks.

“They both ran very well,” Motion said. “Tuttipaesi just didn’t break real sharp, which hurt her a little bit.”

Emollient did break well, which Smith used as a signal to push his filly to the lead after instructions from Mott and assistant trainer Rodolphe Brisset.

Rodolphe and Billy both told me, ‘Don’t be surprised if you find yourself on the lead,’ ” Smith said. “I felt a little more confident when they told me that.”

Emollient set even fractions of 23.75 for the quarter-mile and 48.12 for the half and already was 5½ lengths ahead of Tuttipaesi entering the stretch.

“There was no one behind me, and I kept thinking, ‘What in the world is going on here?’ ” Smith said. “I thought, ‘Well, let me go ahead and separate myself here.’ I felt loaded, so I went ahead and pulled the trigger. She dropped when I did … and I opened up by 10 and said, ‘That’s enough. That’s enough.’ ”

Spring in the Air, the 4-1 favorite, was fourth after a half-mile but faded to ninth.

“I thought she was running fast enough,” trainer Mark Casse said. “She seemed to be comfortable, but she just didn’t show up.”

Emollient was 1-2-0 in three starts as a 2-year-old and won her 3-year-old debut in the slop at Gulfstream. Then came the brutal defeat in the Gulfstream Park Oaks, which was won by top-ranked ­3-year-old filly Dreaming of Julia.

O’Rourke said the decision to bring Emollient back so quickly for the Ashland wasn’t a tough one.

“It’s a Grade I, and we knew the Oaks dream was over if we didn’t come because she didn’t have any points,” he said. “We would never take a chance if a filly wasn’t absolutely 100 percent. She bounced out of the race in really good form.

“Why she ran badly last week, we don’t know. But when she came up here and settled in and everything was fine, why not, you know?”

Jason Frakes can be reached at (502) 582-4046 and on Twitter @kyhighs.